


Try Harder, Next Time

by debwalsh



Series: Deb’s Fictober Surprise! [12]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Angst, Established Relationship, Fights, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-18
Updated: 2018-10-18
Packaged: 2019-08-04 02:14:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16337843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debwalsh/pseuds/debwalsh
Summary: In which a married couple discovers that love doesn’t conquer all, and it is possible to take a joke too far.When that married couple is Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes, one hurt too many can cause one of them to question it all.





	Try Harder, Next Time

**Author's Note:**

> So when i started work on this prompt, my intent had been to do a lighthearted prank war. And then I started writing. And as usual with these guys, they preempted my idea and took it in an entirely new direction. I’m not sure where this came from, but it feels right. Painful, but right.

“Seriously, Steve?The sock drawer?”

“Considering last time we lived together, we didn’t even have a sock drawer - we barely had a pair of socks between us - I didn’t think it would be the first fucking place you’d look, jerk.”

“You’ve always been terrible - terrible! - at hiding presents, Steve.Like, the worst.The absolute worst.”

“I hate you.”

“No, you don’t.  You know you don’t.  You put a ring on this,” Bucky gestured at his body.  “You know you love it.  You love me.  Which is why -“

“Don’t you fucking say it.”

“Hah!Which is why, husband mine, you will try harder, next time.”

“Who says there’s gonna be a next time?Maybe I’m done getting you presents.You don’t deserve them, you know.You’re such an asshole about it.”

“I thank you for the gift.”

“Yeah, after you make fun of me for my gift-hiding skills.”

“I wouldn’t call it a skill.”

“I wouldn’t call you nice, either.Geeze, Buck!Whatever happened to ‘it’s the thought that counts’, huh?I mean, you haven’t even commented about the gift, have you?Just how stupid I am about where I hide it.Well, you know what?I won’t have to try any fucking harder next time.There won’t be a fucking next time.I always like tryn’a pick out the perfect gift for you, but you never fucking appreciate it.Next time?Next time you’re getting a gift certificate.Maybe.Maybe I won’t even bother.You fucking take all the fun out of it, you fucking ingrate!” Steve swore, shoving past Bucky to grab his jacket and leave the apartment.

“Wait, what?” Bucky asked the empty room after Steve had slammed the door behind him.“Shit.Shit-fuck-damn!Steve, wait -“

&&&

Bucky and Steve had been together forever.  Childhood friends who grew into high school sweethearts.  They’d gotten an apartment together for the summer before college,just to prove they could take their relationship to the next, adult level.  They’d made their relationship work long distance while they went to college on opposite coasts, reuniting after graduation to pursue careers in New York City.  They’d gotten an apartment together as soon as they were together in the city again.  Steve had been the one to pop the question, leaving Bucky to tearfully say yes.  There’d been a civil ceremony at the Municipal Building, and a blowout with friends after.

There was no doubt they loved each other.Neither could imagine a world without the other.

But that didn’t mean that they couldn’t hurt each other, or that they never got on each other’s nerves.Or scraped the very last fucking nerve raw til they just couldn’t take it anymore.

Steve wasn’t sure when it started to be some kind of competition.Steve loved getting Bucky things, and he loved the fact that he was successful enough in his chosen career that he could indulge that impulse pretty regularly. He’d often just hand the impulse buys to Bucky while they hunkered down to binge watch something on Netflix.Just casually hand the box or bag across with a little nudge and a kiss on the cheek.

Buck didn’t do gifts quite the way that Steve did.He remembered the big things - birthday, Christmas, anniversary - but he didn’t do little gifts just because.

That had never bothered Steve.It wasn’t the getting that he enjoyed so much.It was the giving.The selecting, or even just the surprise that something he saw was so perfect for someone he cared about.

But the big events - the birthday, Christmas, their anniversary - Steve usually went with something a bit more significant, often more expensive.And he liked to have a little ceremony around the gift-giving.Which meant he had to hide the gift until the time was right.

And somewhere along the line, Bucky had decided that he needed to ferret out the gift before that right time.

And so with each occasion, Steve had to be more creative and crafty about where to hide the gift.

And Bucky always managed to find it, then proceed to razz Steve about how inadequate his hiding skills were.

Steve always hated that, almost to the point he started to dread these occasions.Almost to the point where he really did consider bailing on the idea of gift-giving.Which sucked, because he really did enjoy it.Except now ... now, he really didn’t.

So, yeah.He was angry.He was hurt.He was disappointed.And fuck if he just did not want to go back to their apartment.He just didn’t want to deal with Bucky right now.

He stopped abruptly, and realized with horror that he honestly did not want to go home to his husband.He could not remember a time when he’d ever wanted to avoid Bucky.Not once in all the time they’d known each other - a lifetime, really.They’d fought before, but he was more likely to ache for Bucky than to want to avoid him.

Oh.Oh, this was bad.This was disturbing and scary.How could he ever feel this way about the man he loved?

But he did.What he felt was real.So he’d damned well better figure it out.And to do that ... well, he couldn’t afford to be distracted by the man in question.

&&&

“Tell me you finally figured out that I’m a better choice for you than that hunk of a hubby of yours, sugar,” Riley greeted, draped against the door to his and Sam’s apartment.

“Maybe, but how are we gonna break it to Sam, huh?” Steve asked with a weary grin as he shuffled past Riley into their apartment.It was wide open and modern, airy feeling with high ceilings and clean lines.Different from his and Bucky’s place, with its pre-war architecture and vintage details.But this place suited Sam and Riley.Steve always felt his place suited them.

But right now, everything seemed questionable.And he needed some certainty, something that Sam and Riley always seemed to be able to offer him.

“Oh.Oh, I don’t like that look.You and Barnes finally get into it?” Sam demanded worriedly as he took in Steve’s general appearance.

“No, yeah, maybe - why would you say that, Sam?”

“Because you two are just too perfect for words.  You make the rest of us mere mortals feel like we can’t do anything right, we’ll never have the perfect relationship that you and James do,” Riley replied, closing the door behind them.

“We’re not perfect. Far from it.”

“Oh? Best friends since childhood.  High school sweethearts.  Actually made the long distance thing work.  You never fight -“

“We’re fighting right now.You’re right, we don’t fight much.We can usually find a compromise somehow.But this time, this time i realized this has bothered me a long while, and Bucky just doesn’t see it’s hurtful.”

“The gift thing," Sam guessed, looking over Steve’s shoulder toward Riley, who put gentle hands on Steve’s shoulders.

Steve nodded glumly.“I do gifts because I want to express how he makes me feel, and then he makes me feel ... like fucking crap.”

“Well, y’gotta admit it’s kinda silly -” Sam started to say, but swallowed his words at the acid look from Riley.

“There is nothing silly about gift-giving when it’s from the heart.And it’s always from the heart with Steve here.”

It was true.Steve loved giving gifts, and he loved best of all finding - or making - the gift he thought was perfect for the giftee.It was always a labor of love for him.

“Yeah, that's exactly it,” Steve replied morosely, dropping to the couch.“I feel like I give him my heart, and he treats it like some cheap game.I don’t care if he doesn’t put as much care into giving me gifts - that’s his right.But he doesn’t have to treat -“ he broke off in a sob.

“Man, I’m sorry I came off as an asshole.You’re absolutely right.But what’re you gonna do about it?”

“Could I crash here?For a while?”

“As in more than one night?”

Steve nodded silently.

“If you think it’ll help, you can move the fuck in.Lemme get the guest room ready.”

&&&

STEVE WITH THE GREAT ASS:stayn w sm & riley 4 a while

A while.

A while meant more than a night, didn’t it?

They’d never been apart more than a night since they’d finished college and moved in together.And even then they always raced home to each other.

Jesus.

Bucky had really fucked up this time.

It had started out as a joke, just fooling around.Steve’s expression was always sour, but he could always bring him around.He’d thought it was a game, a game that Steve was actively participating in.Why else would his hiding places always be so lame?

With a shock, Bucky realized he’d read the situation all wrong.Steve was a brilliant artist, a great talent.Just not in hiding things.He’d genuinely thought those were good places.

No, Bucky was still passing judgment on his husband.It wasn’t that the hiding places weren’t good.It was that Bucky went too far.He spent weeks searching sometimes.It wasn’t like he just stumbled across the latest gift.He planned and strategized for it, always with the intent of winning, of beating Steve at the game.He’d become addicted to it.

But Steve hadn’t been playing.Not once.He’d just been giving Bucky his heart each time, and Bucky had stomped on it with his stupid competitiveness.

Jesus.

He ached for Steve.He burned with the desire to tell him how much he loved him, how sorry he was for being an asshole toward the one person who mattered most to him.

He looked down at the phone, at the simple message that carried so much pain.

BUCKY WITH THE GOOD HAIR: im srry i luv u ill b here whn ur ready

He needed to learn how to properly pay attention, how to listen, and how to be patient.How to put his love for that man into action.

Starting now.

He meant what he said. He loved Steve.He’d be there when Steve was ready.But he knew he was going to have to do more than that.He was going to have to prove to Steve that loving him meant that he was here, present, paying attention, and conscious of how he treated the man who meant more to him than breathing.

Bucky was going to have to not only woo Steve, but keep the promises he was going to make.

END

**Author's Note:**

> The sequels are coming, I promise. I needed to put this out there and let it breathe into the universe, and i promise to write and post the next part soon. There will be at least two more parts.
> 
> In the meantime, remember that murdering the writer will result in no next part being written ... :)


End file.
